Top Baby Names in Alaska, 1950s — Most Popular Boys & Girls Names

The most popular baby names in Alaska from 1950 to 1959, ranked by total births during the decade.

What the Data Says About the 1950s in Alaska

During the 1950s (1950–1959), the Social Security Administration recorded 33,738 births across the top 50 boy and top 50 girl names in Alaska. The decade's leading boy name was Michael with 1,357 births, while Mary was the top girl name with 826 births. The top 50 boys in this decade collectively accounted for 20,062 births versus 13,676 for the top 50 girls — a common SSA pattern in which the boy-name pool is more concentrated among fewer high-frequency choices. These totals represent only names appearing five or more times per year in Alaska; rarer names fall below the SSA's privacy-disclosure threshold and are excluded.

The 1950s sits within a specific cultural window of U.S. naming history. Mid-century decades like the 1950s spanned the post-war baby boom and the beginning of naming diversification, as parents increasingly departed from purely traditional choices. Michael and Mary leading Alaska during this window reflects how regional preferences interact with broader national trends.

Decade totals are computed by summing SSA state-year records for Alaska across all ten years of the 1950s. Because the SSA suppresses any name with fewer than five annual occurrences in a state, the true number of unique names given in Alaska during this decade is larger than what this page lists. The dataset also treats every spelling as a separate name — for example, Kayla and Kaylah are tracked independently — so combined-spelling totals would shift the rankings somewhat. This page is provided for informational and research purposes and does not constitute naming, legal, or genealogical advice.

Boy Top 50 Boy Names

Rank Name Births
1 Michael 1,357
2 John 1,349
3 James 1,298
4 Robert 1,296
5 David 1,292
6 William 982
7 Richard 859
8 Thomas 636
9 Steven 619
10 Mark 596
11 Charles 486
12 Gary 450
13 Daniel 450
14 Kenneth 420
15 Donald 411
16 Ronald 400
17 Joseph 392
18 Paul 387
19 George 385
20 Timothy 319
21 Gregory 295
22 Stephen 279
23 Edward 271
24 Larry 269
25 Patrick 252
26 Dennis 248
27 Douglas 239
28 Peter 234
29 Bruce 222
30 Jeffrey 221
31 Raymond 209
32 Frank 204
33 Scott 191
34 Terry 181
35 Kevin 173
36 Gerald 165
37 Christopher 159
38 Jerry 157
39 Walter 156
40 Brian 154
41 Anthony 149
42 Carl 149
43 Andrew 145
44 Wayne 140
45 Lawrence 140
46 Roger 137
47 Randy 136
48 Arthur 135
49 Dale 134
50 Jack 134

Girl Top 50 Girl Names

Rank Name Births
1 Mary 826
2 Linda 758
3 Debra 648
4 Susan 646
5 Patricia 548
6 Karen 516
7 Deborah 478
8 Barbara 457
9 Cynthia 422
10 Kathleen 369
11 Elizabeth 355
12 Pamela 353
13 Donna 348
14 Sandra 347
15 Sharon 339
16 Nancy 333
17 Margaret 299
18 Cheryl 289
19 Carol 282
20 Diane 257
21 Janet 218
22 Laura 216
23 Rebecca 206
24 Katherine 201
25 Teresa 200
26 Kathy 199
27 Theresa 196
28 Catherine 185
29 Martha 179
30 Janice 170
31 Brenda 168
32 Judy 167
33 Christine 163
34 Julie 156
35 Ruth 156
36 Shirley 150
37 Kathryn 147
38 Marilyn 144
39 Dorothy 143
40 Vicki 140
41 Denise 137
42 Carolyn 135
43 Cindy 134
44 Helen 134
45 Betty 133
46 Judith 129
47 Lisa 128
48 Diana 125
49 Alice 124
50 Anna 123

Nearby Rankings

Related decade and state views for Alaska

Compare 1950s leaders: Michael vs Mary → or pick any two names →

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files, 1910–2024 (ssa.gov).

Source: SSA Baby Names Methodology — names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year are included (ssa.gov/oact/babynames/limits.html).

Data sourced from official U.S. government datasets. See our methodology for details.